We review the micro-level evidence on the effects of trade and investment liberalization in the developing world. We focus, in particular, on the effects of the 1991 trade reform in India, since it provides an excellent controlled experiment in which the effects of a drastic trade regime change...

This paper examines the relationship between the exposure to foreign trade and productivity growth for a sample of Indian manufacturing firms. By testing a catching up model of productivity growth, it sheds some light on the nature of the relationship between the exposure to foreign competition...

A short review of the theoretical and empirical evidence indicates that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has the potential to increase the intensity of competition as well as to act as a channel for technology transfers. One would expect, all else equal, an increase in average productivity...

This paper provides a cross-country perspective to the firm-level analysis of the relation between foreign ownership and labour demand. We estimate labour demand equations in eleven European countries using dynamic panel data techniques on samples that permit to distinguish the ownership status...

This article examines the effects of commercialisation of agriculture on land use and work patterns by means of a case study in the Nyeri district in Kenya. The study uses cross sectional data collected from small-scale farmers in this district. We find that good quality land is allocated to...

This study investigates the effect of cash cropping on food availability and examines the determinants of the proportion of income allocated for food expenditures in the Nyeri district in Kenya. Using a Tobit model, the results suggest that in general food expenditure allocations suffer due to...

Reports on results of a survey, completed in 2000, of wives in three villages in the Phulbani district, Orissa, India. These villages are dominated by the Kondh scheduled tribe but some also contain members of the scheduled caste, called Dombs in Orissa. The article reports on the total...

Economic theories of the family and gender discrimination within the family are examined in the context of Kondh dominated tribal villages in rural western Orissa, India, drawing on results from a survey of 106 wives. The survey involved direct interviews using a structured questionnaire. This...

Shows how economic theories based on parental self-interest may explain parental discrimination against daughters relative to sons. However, such theories often need to be adjusted (or even discarded) to allow for altruism of parents towards their children, and to take account of cultural...

Begins by considering trends in the incidence of rural poverty in China, comparing China and India. Although the incidence of rural poverty in China declined generally, such poverty is still a matter for concern, especially now that China has joined the WTO. There is concern about the possible...